Forging ahead: Adding color!

It’s taken me awhile to get used to this technique — transparent color layers over greyscale images — but it’s growing on me. These paintings have depth, more so than any of my previous works. They possess a 3-dimensional, jewel-like quality. It’s like I could reach right into this painting, grab a plate off the table, and sit it down on the counter behind Ron. This happened by accident. Believe me, I didn’t plan it that way.

On the downside, finishing this book is going to take longer than what I’d anticipated — at least another month, which will take me into mid May. Having spent so much time on the underpaintings, establishing values and form, I figured it would take no more than one day to color each image. That. Nada. Gonna. Happen.

If I had it to do over, I’d use acrylic paint instead of oil. I love oil painting. No other medium can touch it’s luminous quality. But acrylics dry almost immediately, where oil paint takes it’s time. Even though I’m using alkyds — fast drying oil paint — I still have to wait at least a day for the paint to dry before I can paint over it again. Grrr.

OK, gotta go.

P.S. About the bald head. It’s an accident. I cut my own hair, and last week in a hurry, I forgot to clip on the little plastic accessory that prevents the clippers from going too low. Took a bite out my ‘fro the size of an apple. So, I had to cut it all off.

On the upside, the wife says it’s very sexy attractive, so I’ve decided to keep it.

One Response to Forging ahead: Adding color!

Painting looks awesome — thank you for sharing your cool new ‘technique discovery’. Very brave of you to use oils on something time-sensitive — despite the downside, I am sure your final product will be beautiful! 🙂